Two wounded in Israeli raids

At least two Palestinians have been wounded in a raid in Tul Karam, as Israeli occupation forces in the West Bank arrested nine members of a resistance group in Bir Zait.

13 Jan 2004 07:37 GMT

Israeli troops in the West Bank have raided two towns

At least two Palestinians - woman and a youth - were wounded after troops stormed Tul Karam refugee camp, Aljazeera's correspondent in the West Bank town reported.

"More than 20 military vehicles raided the town, besieged the camp, sealed off its entrances with barbed wire and deployed inside," Muain Shadid said.

He said hundreds of people had fled as the Israelis blasted several homes in the camp, where refugees lived in "miserable conditions". Israeli occupation forces have imposed a curfew on the camp, he said.

Nine arrested

Elsewhere in the West Bank, Israeli forces on Monday arrested nine Palestinians belonging to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in the town of Bir Zait, our correspondent in Ram Allah said.

The occupation forces had entered the town, north of Ram Allah, and carried out raids on a number of houses and buildings, he said.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces demolished the West Bank home of the brother of a wanted Palestinian activist, AFP reported.

Bulldozers destroyed Mahmud Najah's house in the village of Yatta, to the south of Hebron, as a search by the army for his brother Issa Najah continued.

Soldiers fired at the house and then ordered the eight family members to leave before the bulldozers moved in, the witnesses said.